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OVERVIEW: RafalMajka (Tinkoff-Saxo) made up for the disappointment of finishing second on Friday by winning Saturday's 14th stage of the Tour de France.

Majka joined a group of 17 escapees early on in the 177km Alpine stage from Grenoble to Risoul and was able to hold on all the way to the finish.

Race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) came home in second to extended his overall advantage in the yellow jersey competition while 37-year-old Frenchman Jean-Christophe Péraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) took third on the stage.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) lost some valuable seconds to France's Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) who now trails the Spaniard by 13sec.

16.26 Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) wins stage 14 of the Tour de France. The 24-year-old Pole was a late call-up to Tinkoff-Saxo team after Roman Kreuziger was handed a pre-Tour doping ban.

16.23 / 1.2km to go: Rafal Majka's (Tinkoff-Saxo) lead in down to 30sec. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Jean-Christophe Péraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale) still chasing.

16.22 Valverde looks to have cracked under pressure following an attack from Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing).

16.21 / 2km to go:Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) still leads the stage by around 32sec but Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) is deperately chasing him and a fourth stage at this year's Tour de France.

16.19Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) has put in an attack and is in pursuit of Nibali. The American has with him Valverde and Pinot.

16.16 / 4km to go:Pierre Rolland (Europcar) goes again before, at the 4km to go mark, Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) glides away from the bunch. The maiilot jaune caught and dropped JoaquimRodríguez (Katusha). Only Jean-Christophe Péraud managed to stay with the Italian.

16.14 / 4.5km to go:Pierre Rolland (Europcar) has attacked and was joined by Romain Bardet'sAg2r-La Mondialeteam-mateJean-Christophe Péraud. That move is now over.

16.12 / 5km to go:Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) is still out in front while Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) and JoaquimRodríguez (Katusha) are about to be swept up by the Bardet-Nibali group that now trails the stage leader by 1min 11sec..

16.06 / 7.5km to go: Pierre Rolland (Europcar) is watching Romain Bardet closely. Further up the road Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo) has overhauled Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) and José Serpa (Lampre-Merida) and is now leading the stage.

16.04 / 8km to go: Ag2r-La Mondiale are still working for Romain Bardet onthe front of the main general classification group.

16.00 Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) has been joined by José Serpa (Lampre-Merida) and the Italian looks determined to shake the Colombian off.

15.58 Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) has attacked off the front of the leading group though at 11km from the summit has his work cut out if he is to win the stage.

15.55 The leaders are on the final, 12.6km, climb around one minute ahead of the chasing group that features Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana). Richie Porte, for the second day running, is struggling and is going backwards.

15.50 The leading group of 10 riders has seen its lead drop to 1min 20sec. Ag2r-La Mondiale are leading the chase ahead of the final climb of the day, the category one Montée de Risoul.

15.40 Dries Devenyns (Giant-Shimano) has abandoned.

15.35 After easing off briefly, Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) is back on the front of their group but Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) is struggling to hold on. By the way, Bardet started the stage third on general classification 16sec ahead of Pinot.

<noframe>Twitter: Jeremy Whittle - That could prove a waste of energy from Bardet; looked good tho...</noframe>

15.30 Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) appears to be attacking Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) in the fast descent. The latter, you probably know, is not the strongest at going downhill but is hanging on here. Les sunsurprisingly is the fact that Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), one of the best descenders around, is glued onto Bardet.

Here are the full details from the Col d’Izoard climb ...

Rider

Team

Points

Total

1.JoaquimRodríguez

Katusha

25

88 (1st)

2. Rafal Majka

Tinkoff-Saxo

20

68 (3rd)

3. Mikel Nieve

Team Sky

16

16 (15th)

4.Jesús Herrada

Movistar

14

14 (17th)

5. Simon Yates

Orica-GreenEdge

12

17 (13th)

6. Geraint Thomas

Team Sky

10

34 (7th)

7. Alessandro De Marchi

Cannondale

8

38 (6th)

8. José Serpa

Lampre-Merida

6

10 (22nd)

9. Steven Kruijswijk

Belkin

4

4 (33rd)

10. Amaël Moinard

BMC Racing

2

12 (18th)

15.19 JoaquimRodríguez (Katusha) crested the summit there to earn himself €5,000 and, more importantly, 25 points in the mountains competition. Once again the Spaniard wasn't really tested and he may have to shaer the Euros out with his fellow breakaway riders later tonight.

15.15 Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale) has upped the pace at the front of the maillot jaune's group. The stage leaders are very close to the summit of the Col d’Izoard now.

15.12 The leading group has been reduced to just 10 riders. Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) is still leading the way but I'm sure JoaquimRodríguez (Katusha) will test him once they're around 500m from the summit. I expect he;'s more concerned over the points on offer rather than the €5,000.

15.10 Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) is looking strong on the front of the break with JoaquimRodríguez (Katusha) close just behind the mustachioed José Serpa (Lampre-Merida).

Travis Cowan has been in touch with his prediction for the stage: "Well my Marcel Kittel prediction fell short two days ago. But with Vincenzo Nibali, Alejandro Valverde, Joaquim Rodríguez and all the rest in the mix, I have Tejay van Garderen tossing caution and the hooked-on white jersey tagger aside. The BMC Racing rider was closing strongly yesterday. This USA guesser guesses a stage for the US."

15.05 As expected Peter Sagan (Cannondale) has been caught by the peloton while Richie Porte, who had a disastrous day yesterday, has decided to show his face. Earlier in the day the Team Sky rider was talking to French television, saying: "Yesterday was a terrible day for me. But the Tour is not over. I'm not in a super form today either but there will be other difficult stages next week. Maybe I can still save something and make something out of this Tour. It's not up to me to attack Nibali anymore. GC is over for me but a stage win might still be possible.”

15.00 Tiago Machado (NetApp-Endura) put in a little dig on the front of the peloton before his move was cancelled out. Peter Sagan (Cannondale) will be caught pretty soon.

14.55 Manuel Valls, the French prime minister and presumably no relation to Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida) who quit the Tour de France this morning, is at the race today and is following the break which leads the peloton now by 3min 1sec.

“We're right behind the breakaway but I'm not sure they can stay away," said Monsieur Valls. "The front group might explode soon. Before we can talk about a rivalry between the two French riders Thibaut Pinot and Romain Bardet, like Anquetil-Poulidor in the past, one of them has to win the Tour… because Anquetil was winning! I strongly hope that will be the case for them as well. That would be great for French cycling. For now, I've had heartache for Tony Gallopin since he hails from my province of the Essonne.”

14.45 Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Albert Timmer (Giant-Shimano) are both going backwards now, while NetApp-Endura remain on the front of the peloton as it taps away up the slopes of the Col d’Izoard which, at 2,361m, is the highest point in this year's race – the first rider to crest the summit will earn himself €5,000.

With the break's lead dropping to 2min 45sec will Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) bother himself with picking up a few extra Euros? If so, the late Louison Bobet would approve. Bobet, a three-time Tour de France winner, once remarked that the mark of a true champion was to cross the Col d'Izoard in the lead in the maillot jaune, the leader’s yellow jersey. The Frenchman, himself, won a couple os stage on the Izoard so I guess he would say that.

14.35 Peter Sagan (Cannondale) has been dropped from the breakaway which leads by 2min 30sec. I hope Pam Dhanoa isn't reading a she predicted he's win today "because the others will be too knackered by the end of two weeks, whereas he has a bit more stamina."

14.30 The breakaway has just passed through the feedzone where the team soigneurs have been standing roadside handing out mussettes filled with their lunch. No major problems, though Albert Timmer (Giant-Shimano) did almost come a cropper.

14.15Peter Sagan (Cannondale) just had to pull off from the break, which leads the peloton by 3min 6sec, to stop and collect a new front wheel.

"Afternoon John", emails in NickBattrick. with his prediction for today's stage. "Today, given the break, I would put my money (by which I mean SiS competition entry) on Joaquim Rodríguez. He looked good on the first climb and Astana don't need to bring the break back. There is an alternative scenario - If one of the top five on GC head off then you will see Vincenzo Nibali go for it, in which case he'll probably keep going, mop up the break and take the stage win. But I'll go for Rodriguez to do the business."

14.10 The break has seen its lead drop to just over four minutes. NetApp-Endura, no doubt concerned that their highest placed rider on general classification, LeopoldKonig, is now under threat from Team Sky's GeraintThomas and Mikel Nieve, have taken over on the front.

By the way, here are the full results from the Col du Lautaret ...

Rider

Team

Points

Total

1.JoaquimRodríguez

Katusha

10

63 (2nd)

2. Rafal Majka

Tinkoff-Saxo

8

48 (3rd)

3. Nicolas Roche

Tinkoff-Saxo

6

9 (19th)

4. José Serpa

Lampre-Merida

4

4 (31st)

5. Alessandro De Marchi

Cannondale

2

30 (8th)

6. Christophe Riblon

Ag2r-La Mondiale

1

5 (26th)

14.05 The peloton is now on the descent of the Col du Lautaret. Just getting the mountains details ...

13.55"Today I think its all about Alejandro Valverde", reckons MGShields."Putting in a good display yesterday, finishing in fourth, today I can see him pushing that bit further to claim the win and close the gap on Vincenzo Nibali in the GC. However, as Nibali won't be far behind Valverde on this stage, the time gain will most likely be minimal, as I expect Nibali to claim a podium place."

13.51 Tempo in the lead group picked up slightly but no rider really took the fight to JoaquimRodríguez (Katusha) who scooped up 10 points to close the gap on Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) who leads the overall and mountains competitions. Full details to follow ...

13.45 The leading group is nearing the summit of the Col du Lautaret and they're over five minutes ahead of the peloton. I expect JoaquimRodríguez (Katusha) will be going for the 10 points on offer here. The Spaniard will be a tough nut to crack, but we'll see soon.

Once over the top there's a 30km descent into the valley ahead of the 19km drag up the Col d'Izoard.

13.40 Tony Gallopin (Lotto-Belisol), the French maillot jaune on Bastille Day, just dropped back to his car to top up on fluids.

13.35Peter Sagan (Cannondale) appears to be struggling. I can't see him staying in the break for the second climb, the fearsome Col d'Izoard, and I don't think he should waste his energy doing so either.

13.30 Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) is sitting near the front of the breakaway which now leads the Astana-led peloton by 4min 40sec.

13.25Arnaud Démare (FDJ) was just spotted riding to the side of the road before jumping off and diving into a nearby camper van ...

... I wasn't sure why, until I read this ...

<noframe>Twitter: Ned Boulting - You stand there all day by your mobile home, waiting for a fleeting glimpse of the French champion, then he invites himself in for a poo.</noframe>

13.15 The leading group is around 12km from the summit of the Col du Lautaret around 4min 30sec ahead of the peloton. Green jersey wearer Peter Sagan (Cannondale) appears to be struggling.

13.00 A few drops of rain threatened have fallen on the course, but nothing for the riders to worry about.

12.50 "Good morning", emailed in JimBrown earlier. "As I may miss the majority of your excellent coverage and analysis of today's stage, may I offer my two pennoth worth in anticipation please?

Go on then Jim, I was listening to a bit of Section 25, but you've got my attention now.

"Only a fool would place his Saturday night beer money on anyone else other than Vincenzo Nibali. After yesterday's majestic and controlled success on stage 13, simply riding away from the remaining pretenders, I would suggest that today's queen stage is also at his mercy. That said ...

"I'm going to go for a cheeky each way bet on Leopold Koenig. I can see him sneaking away in a breakaway and at 8min 36sec and 10th place, Astana can control any threat to GC - if he doesn't make the breakaway, I think he still has the class (and hunger) to take the win - Usurped by Rafal Majka yesterday - today is Konig's day - Nibali runner up - MikelNieve in third in an attempt to rescue Team Sky's Tour."

Jim 'The Fool' Brown

The breakaway's at 4min 10sec and its about a third of the way up the Col du Lautaret.

12.40 Astana, Movistar, FDJ and Ag2r-La Mondiale all have numbers on the front of the peloton, which now trails the stage leaders by 3min 45sec. Oh, here's a fly-through from today's stage ...

12.35 The breakaway's at 3min 26sec.

Full details from the intermediate sprint in La Paute after 40km ...

Rider

Team

Points

Total

1. Peter Sagan

Cannondale

20

361 (1st)

2. Alessandro De Marchi

Cannondale

17

60 (18th)

3. Geraint Thomas

Team Sky

15

31 (42nd)

4. Steven Kruijswijk

Belkin

13

26 (56th)

5. Simon Yates

Orica-GreenEdge

11

22 (63rd)

6. Amaël Moinard

BMC Racing

10

20 (71st)

7. Jesus Herrada

Movistar

9

9 (98th)

8. Nicolas Edet

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits

8

43 (28th)

9. Albert Timmer

Giant-Shimano

11 (94th)

10. Christophe Riblon

Ag2r-La Mondiale

21 (65th)

11. Cyril Gautier

Europcar

5

35 (37th)

12. Rafal Majka

Tinkoff-Saxo

4

27 (52nd)

13. Nicolas Roche

Tinkoff-Saxo

3

3 (118th)

14. José Serpa

Lampre-Merida

2

2 (122nd)

15. Rein Taaramae

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits

1

12 (90th)

12.25Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) is given a welcome tow by the Cofidis, Solutions Crédits team car as the little Spaniard works his way back on. Nice touch from the French team.

12.20Mikel Nieve (Team Sky) punctures, raises his right arm while calmly waiting for his team car to pull up before the team mechanic jumps out with a new wheel. The Spaniard, should, be able to get back onto the breakaway soon. The riders are now on the 34km long category one Col du Lautaret climb.

12.16 The 17-man breakaway has just crossed the intermediate sprint. It wasn't contested and PeterSagan (Cannondale) led the way to add another 20 points to his tally and extend his lead in the points classification competition.

12.15VincenzoNibali, the maillot jaune, is sitting at ninth wheel in the peloton as his eight Astana team-mates ride on the front ensuring the Italina keeps out of harm's way should there be a crash. One rider who know plenty about crashing is Nibali's team-mate Jakob Fuglsang who went down yesterday on a descent after hitting a stray bidon.

“Jurgen [Van den Broeck] wrote me a message last night. I'm happy for that. He said he was sorry that he took a bottle at the top of the climb. The bottle fell off and it was bad luck that I hit it," said Fuglsangbefore the start of today's stage.

"Of course I have some pain but it's bearable for now and I think it'll bearable also on the bike. I cannot say what is hurting the most, it's hurting everywhere. It's gonna be difficult to be in the front but I'll try to stay with Vincenzo as long as possible. All in all, I've been lucky. I'm optimistic. It might take a few days to come back to normal. After tomorrow, we'll have a rest day. Hopefully I'll be back at a competitive level for the Pyrenees.”

12.10 Following Thursday's competition the liveblog commissaire could not decipe upon a winner so we're back for another one. Today, three lucky Telegraph readers can win one of three SiS Endurance Packs, worth £12.99, and includes a range of products from British company Science in Sport (SiS), who are the nutrition providers to Astana, Trek Factory Racing and Katusha: www.scienceinsport.com.

To be in with a chance of winning one, emailcycling@telegraph.co.uktelling us who will win today's stage, and why. The competition, sadly, is only open to British-based readers, but feel free to get involved anyway. if your pick doesn't win then the highest placed rider out of all entries will win. In the event of more than one winning entry, names will go into a hat. The liveblog commissaires decision will be final. No arguments.

The break is at 3min 30sec.

12.00 This breakaway is, by far, the largest on this year's Tour de France has seen and with the highest placed rider on general classification rider being Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) at 14min 5sec we could see today's stage winner coming from this group. There are some strong climbers here – Mikel Nieve (Team Sky), JoaquimRodríguez (Katusha) and Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) – but also there is an awful long way to go yet. Incidentally, today features the highest point in this year's race, the 2,361m Col d’Izoard where the first rider to crest the summit will earn himself €5,000.

11.40 VincenzoNibali and his Astana team-mates have knocked off the pace while a 17-man breakaway forms. That lead group includes Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha), Peter Sagan (Cannondale), Nicolas Roche (Tinkoff-Saxo), Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale), Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale) and the two reamining Britons in the race, Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) and SimonYates (Orica-GreenEdge). Full list of breakaway to follow shortly.

11.30 Somehow the main buch has split with VincenzoNibali (Astana), the maillot jaune, Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) and Peter Sagan (Cannondale) all positioned in the front group while Romain Bardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale)and Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) were caught out and now trail the very strong 40-man bunch by around 25sec.

11.25 Cyril Gautier (Europcar) has now taken it upon himself to launch an attack and has a small lead over the peloton. André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), Marcel Sieberg (Lotto-Belisol) and Sep Vanmarcke (Belkin) are off the back.

11.24 Rafael Valls (Lampre-Merida) abandons the Tour. It sounds like he didn't actually start the race, rtaher than quit after about 12 minutes.

11.20 And they're off! Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) attacked from the start but the peloton are watching him closely. Sylvain Chavanel (IAM Cycling) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits) are looking lively while André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol) is, perhaps inevitably given what lies ahead, is dragging his heels towards the rear.

11.10 The riders are currently tapping away in the neutralised zone waiting for Christian Prudhomme to get the day's race started.

11.00 Three riders that started yesterday's stage – Daniel Navarro (Cofidis, Solutions Crédits), Arthur Vichot (FDJ), Janier Acevedo (Garmin-Sharp) – were forced to abandon yesterday through illness while Katusha's Alexander Porsev was eliminated after missing the time limit so just 173 riders signed on this morning. If you're interested in who's left in the race or who abandoned and when, then you can, right here: right here.

10.50 Time for a quick jersey watch update: Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) will wear the maillot jaune (leader's yellow jersey) for the 11th day at this year's race.

Peter Sagan (Cannondale) remains in the maillot vert (green jersey) as leader in the points classification and still looks certain, barring disaster, to wear it all the way to Paris.

Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) lost his lead in the mountains classification competition to Nibali but with the Italian already in yellow the Spaniard will be in the maillot à pois (polka dot jersey) for a fourth day. RomainBardet (Ag2r-La Mondiale), whose dogged ride on Friday saw him break into the top three on general classification, remains the leader in the young riders competition and will wear the maillot blanc (white jersey).

Ag2r-La Mondiale riders will, again, wear yellow bib numbers as leaders in the team classification while Alessandro De Marchi (Cannondale) will wear a red bib number after being named as the most combative rider on yesterday.

10.40 Today's stage starts a little earlier than other days and the riders will head off at 11.10am (BST). Incidentally, stage 14 not only follows in the footsteps of the Carthaginian general Hannibal and his pachyderm peloton of thirty-seven elephants, but also FelixLowe who rode much of the route during an epic 2,800-kilometre ride from Barcelona to Rome last summer.

10.30 Morning everybody and welcome to our live rolling blog from the second stage in this year's Alpine double-header that sees three climbs – the Col du Lautaret, Col d'Izoard and Montée de Risoul – make the 177-kilometre run from Grenoble to the summit finish on Risoul the toughest one yet.

Listen to the latest episode of the Telegraph Cycling Podcast as presenters Richard Moore, Lionel Birnie and Daniel Friebe talk to Sir Dave Brailsford and Richie Porte after another bad day for Team Sky ...